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Sam Bates
Samuel "Sam" Bates is a villain in the TV series Bates Motel - the contemporary adaption of Robert Bloch's Psycho, and it's film adaption by Alfred Hitchcock. He appears as the abusive husband of Norma Bates and father to her son Norman Bates, and ends up dying at the hands of the latter. He was portrayed by David Cubitt. History Sam Bates met Norma Calhoun when the latter cheated on her then husband, John Masset. She divorced him after the affair was discovered and married Sam. He was an abusive alcoholic who beat his wife Norma, and had been known to be abusive towards their son Norman, and Norman's half-brother, Dylan. He seemed to get drunk and attack them on a regular basis to the point where Norma would take Norman and hide in the closet, telling her young boy that they were playing hide and seek from their father. It is revealed in the later seasons that Norma did try to leave with Norman when he was 7, but couldn't find Dylan because he wasn't home, so they kept driving around the neighborhood trying to find him. Sam caught them and forced Norma at gun point to drive them all home. After they got in the driveway, an enraged and drunk Sam threatened to kill all of them at once, including himself. Norma begged forgiveness, so Sam took her into their room where he raped her through anal sex on the bed, with Norman hiding underneath and holding his mother's hand as the rape continued. It's implied that this scarring moment is what lead to Norman developing Dissociative Identity Disorder. One day, after Norman turns 17, Sam gets into one of abusive moments and starts grabbing Norma in their living room when she makes an off-cut remark about him cheating the state in disability allowance and it is implied that he cheats on Norma. In the next room Norman overhears the commotion, and begins to blank out. In an almost hypnotic daze, Norman unknowingly strikes Sam across the head with a blender, killing him instantly. Norma puts Norman to bed, and sets up the death to look like a household accident. Norman later awakens and discovers his father dead, much to his distress. 6 months after his death, Norma got money in Sam's life insurance and used it to buy a motel with Norman. Her other son Dylan (and Norman's half-brother) initially believes Norma is responsible for the killing, but she reveals that Norman committed the crime, but knew that he was not aware due to going through a trance-thus revealing this as being the reason Norma decided to keep Norman close to her and keep an eye on him. Personality Sam could be considered the true main villain of the series given it was his abusive nature that lead to Norman's mental illness. He was a cruel, heartless, and abusive man whose behavior only worsened with his alcohol addiction. He was also an expert manipulator, given according to Dylan, he could fake being a loving father/husband around others, which caused people to actually mourn his death. Although despite his ruthless behavior and constant abuse of his family, Sam did seem to love Norman to some degree-given one time when he passed out on the kitchen table drunk, he woke up while a young Norman was getting a glass of water and gave him a hug, apologizing to him and telling him he loved him. It's also briefly stated by Norman that he'd sometimes let him sleep in the same bed with him when he wasn't in Norma's bed. Whether or not Sam was always the way he was or was more influenced by alcohol than anything else, he was nevertheless a violent person who left scars on his wife and son after his death. Gallery Norma_Sam.jpg|Sam and Norma's wedding picture. Same_Beats.jpg|Sam beats Norma for the last time. Sam_Body.jpg|Norman finds his dad's dead body. Trivia *Sam's villainy is exclusive to Bates Motel and ignores what was established in the Psycho books and film sequels. In Psycho II and III it is revealed that Norman's mentally unstable aunt Emma Spool murdered his father and kidnapped Norman as a baby. In Psycho IV: The Beginning (which acts as a sequel/prequel involving flashbacks to Norman's childhood) he was stung to death by bees when Norman was 6. In the original novel series, he simply abandoned the family when Norman was a baby. *His name change from "John Bates" is a possible nod towards the character of Sam Loomis from Psycho (who would later emerge in the show's 5th season). 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